Greetings from the thrilling world of legislative redistricting, where state Republicans and Democrats are hard at work trying to nail down maps that pass constitutional muster.

Yesterday, members of the Joint House and Senate Redistricting Committee met to adopt rules for redrawing lines for the twenty-eight legislative districts ruled unconstitutional last year. The conclusion: mapmakers can consider partisan advantage when they draw the new lines, but not race—two criteria that had Democratic lawmakers up in arms.

“The districts were declared unconstitutional because of race,” said state Representative Mickey Micheaux, the civil rights veteran and colorful Democrat from Durham.…